:: Beaver Lake, Lake Fayetteville, Brentwood Community Center, Eureka Springs ::

seeking spots to cool off in NW Arkansas…

Last week we had a few days of cookie making, movies, and mud pies that come along with rain. The kids and I LOVE the rain…

There is something very crucial about experiencing rain – up close and personal, not always tucked away inside cars and houses. Like knowing the warmth on your face from a live fire, or sticking your toes deep down in the wet sand at the water’s edge and “sinking”; your body touching the elements, making you more real, more alive…

it’s invigorating. We soaked it up, as did the gardens, knowing July and August will likely not bless us with so much wet abundance from here on out!

And when it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow.
Gilbert K. Chesterton

Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.–Charles Mingus

Friday series inspired by SouleMama

“{this moment}: A Friday ritual. A single photo – no words – capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.”

It was one of those clear, sharp, mustless days
That summer and man delight in.
Never had Heaven seemed quite so high,
Never had earth seemed quite so green,
Never had the world seemed quite so clean
Or sky so nigh.
And I heard the Deity’s voice in

The sun’s warm rays,
And the white cloud’s intricate maze,
And the blue sky’s beautiful sheen.

-e.e.cummings, “The Eagle”

I’ve been keeping track of my time a bit this last week or so, trying to estimate what percentages of my time is devoted to what.

Here’s what I have found, currently:

- sleep an average of 6 hours a night and nurse about 2-3 times during those 6 hours.

- (spend an average of) 4 hours a day on meal prep, eating and meal cleanup.

- 4 hours a day on house chores and yard work (and still my laundry is piled up!)

- 3 hours a day on direct involvement with the kids (reading, crafts, outings, bathtime, bedtime, etc)

- 3 hours a day on my work-at-home business (no wonder I have so little time for this!)

- 1 hour a day with Chris

- 1 hour a day on email/blog/facebook to catch up with friends and family

- 30 minutes a day on personal needs (shower, brush teeth, get dressed.)

- leaving me with 1.5 hours a day for something to surprise me

For me, this list is somewhat revealing. I have found that I spend a lot of my day on a lifestyle of “simplicity” that is really quite a bit of hard work but very good for me too. I eat well and I move a lot, (which saves me the time and money going to a gym – or having any healthcare needs!), and my kids are happy and healthy, which contributes to my quality of life a lot. And I suppose the house/yard is somewhat maintained, lol. I would like more sleep, me time, and husband time, but I suspect so does every mom! Perhaps when I “retire” (I’ve told you I plan to retire by 35, right? It’s my ten year plan. Yeah. I have lots of those.)

I also get time to watch a movie or knit here and there (though usually only when multi-tasking or coinciding with husband-time). I don’t have much time to call people back or reply to emails, and I get chided for that from friends and family members at least once a day

As I bend down, 30 pound baby on my back as usual, to sweep the mornings crumbs and sticky oatmeal from under the table, summer ants scattering away, I admit to having mixed feelings about how much of my day is spent just keeping us from being under a foot of garbage. Within 20 minutes the sink will be full again with kefir smoothie (our morning snack) remains. The table and floor I just cleaned will have sticky spills of smoothie everywhere and the kids’ hands and faces will need to be cleaned again. And when I finish all that, I’ll have about 20 minutes until I need to start thinking about lunch. Nobody said this job was easy!

I’m blessed to have a husband who comes in from a 10 hour work day and goes directly to the sink to do dishes, then outside to care for the chickens, then inside to eat dinner and do the dishes AGAIN, then help put the 5 year old to bed, then fold clothes while watching a show. Literally, he does this Every.Single.Day. His help is probably why I even get those precious 6 hours of sleep!

Life on the homestead, I suppose?

More posts coming your way this week – much going on up in this noggin’ of mine…

Until next time.

Happy Summer Solstice, friends!

Yesterday we celebrated with friends, bringing in the season to the light of a bonfire in the country (the kind of location that calls for directions such as “turn left at the wooden heart shaped house number sign” and “turn right at the sign that says “WOAH”. Luv it.)

We marshed us some mallows and splashed in a pool of pond water underneath a moonlit sky. The dogs chased fireflies and the Neverland tribe (10 or so?) of children were foot loose and fancy free. It was marvelous. We rolled in just before midnight, in time to shower off and hit our inviting beds as Summer declared itself HERE.

Needless to say, the husband had to be up at 6am for work today while the rest of us laid in bed until close to 9. As I come in now from hanging clothes on the line mid-day (usually the heat is so bad you just HAVE to do this chore early in the AM – sleeping in on a homestead is NOT a good option!) the sweat beads on my red forehead can attest: Ye’Sir, it’s Summer!

I’ve been hoping to find time to blog again soon, but even when time was found I was unsure where to begin. A lot has happened in such a short amount of time and I’m still processing much of it. Some things are just so all consuming that the rest of life must very stubbornly seep through, eventually.

And that is one of the things I so admire about life. You can try to dam it back, close your eyes and pretend your floating in a lazy river, but we all know that nothing stops the current. It is defiant it its attempts to keep us moving. Thank God.

One of the markers of passing time in life’s great current is the seasons change. This Father’s Day weekend we’ll kiss Spring goodbye (is it REALLY still Spring?) and embrace full fledged Summer. Currently, the mosquitoes surrounding my home are holding us hostage indoors (and if you know us, that means WE ARE GOING PLUMB MAD!) and has me dreaming of Portland bug-free sunny months of bliss. But a few things make up for it, gently reaffirming that we ARE where we need to be (in no particular order):

For one, the fire flies. Oh, what I would give to be able to capture in photographs these creatures dance outside my window at night. I can hardly close my eyes when I lay in bed waiting for the next one to surprise me with its electrical body outside my window and drift this way and that. There are dozens of them floating outside at any given moment, lighting up the darkness like evening fairies worshiping the moon. Last night I even dreamed I went outside and scouted some glow worms. I’m downright enchanted with them!

For another, the community. The network of family and friends we have been welcomed into in just 4 short months (is that ALL?) is everything I hoped it would be and more. When breaking bread with loved ones, it often feels as if we have never NOT been here. I am so grateful for such a vibrant, loving, healthy community of adults and children to bring up my own in. The more I plug into the good people I have come to know here, the more impressed I am with their hearts and lives – all so very, very different from one another. What a colorful tapestry of folks!

Allow me to paint you a picture of my neighborhood alone: I have been befriended by a neighbor on one side, a nursery worker, single mom to two young boys – the kinda lady who will talk your ear off about Irises and give you the shirt off your back if you asked her (or even if you don’t!). Our lives collide with theirs in ways only nature could orchestrate: rescuing a young tortoise from the street, climbing trees together, or exchanging plants and seeds.

Across the street I am greeted by three friendly neighbors in a row, all of whom I see and speak with pretty much daily. One is a warm, funky grandma with a major green thumb whose home features a set of prayer flags (as does ours). She walks and rides her bike passed our home frequently, often with her two young grandchildren and dog accompanying her.

Next to her is the areas Rabbi with his family of adopted toddlers. He pulls up to his on-street parking several times a day blasting talk radio, mows his lawn shirtless (my, what a healthy sense of self you have!), and is another brilliant botanist. He can name you just about any plant you have and tell you more about it than you really needed to know. We made a greater connection recently, as he prepares to head out of town he showed us an area where he wants us to remove and keep LOTS of yellow lillies off his property, which just so happen to be underneath an apricot tree spilling ripe fruit that we are also welcome to collect. Yippee!

And of course, our sweet friends next to him are a writer and her partner, the kinda gals so genuine that they welcome being knocked to their feet by my 4 year old’s hugs when we run into each other at the Farmer’s Market. We’ve found deeper support from these neighbors than the rest and I have a feeling as I get the courage to join their writing group that we will become closer as time goes on.

Down the way are more families speckling the neighborhood with color and charm, some we know by name and others we don’t. Many who, like us, seem to strive to make their front yard their “Third Place” where community happens.

As I type, Ethan wakes up and without even asking for breakfast declares, “I’m going to the front yard!” His tree swing turns him into a super hero for awhile, and when that loses its novelty there are endless bugs to search for under rocks. I have to coax him back inside for eating, eventually. This morning might be harder than others, however: he has found himself a tortoise.

One of the nice things about living in the city is the walks through neighborhoods like mine. But then, the country walks – spotting bugs, flowers, and deer, presents a networking community as well. Yes, we dream of our little plot of land. A lot.

But more on that later.

In the meantime, some pictures of our in-town life this Summer:

Ver in the garden…

Pole beans reaching up!

Swiss chard, a colorful and tasty addition to our backyard veg bed

A new Summertime tradition: a Marigold Bath!

Ants rummage a strawberry blossom

Peek-a-booing amongst the trees…

{simple pleasures}

a new weekend Mama Seasons series about finding pleasure in something inexpensive or free in search of :The Good Life:

Farmers market: a $3 sun hat, as well as the usual locally grown veggies to eat and plants to grow. And an ice cold latte
A turnip man (free)
Bubbles (free)

Library finds:
In and Out of the Garden, Sara Midda
Taming the Truffle; The History, Lore and Science of the Ultimate Mushroom, Hall, Brown, and Zambonelli
Time of Wonder, Robert McClosky

Thrifted (vintage):
a pully for tree climbing adventures
tablecloth, bright and Summery
OJ pitcher for Saturday morning fresh squeezed orange juice
(pictures to come)

Gifted:
Lilly’s in bloom from a neighbor

Bartered:
Possibility of website work for a local bookstore in exchange for books!

Borrowed:
Rodales Successful Gardening Organic Herbs

Created:
A fort on an enchanted island, where the prince asks nicely for the fairy godmother to bake him magical cookies so he has the energy to escape the green aliens with big ears and bumpy toes that taste like bananas and regrow when they are bitten off.

Sometimes the best thing God does for us is nothing.

The sentence above was the central theme of the church community’s discussion last Sunday. Poignant for so many, I am sure. Certainly is for me.

The phrase has been said to me, in different words by various people and circumstances, more times in the last few months than I can remember. “Do nothing.” “Maybe just, don’t do anything? Nothing but what is needed for today.” “Stop doing…” or “Don’t just do something, sit there.”

So my husband has found work, for today. Also for today, the venture I had been so hard at work on planning (the play school), is unable to come to fruition at this time, in this house. In many ways, I am being forced to do nothing for the first time in a long time.

Which isn’t to say I’m literally doing nothing. Just that the pressure is off. I can hang the clothes on the line, make oatmeal, flip through my books, read to the kids, take long walks, do a little work as time allows… and otherwise just kinda… wait.

Wait, and dream, and hope, and plan. But not too much. Trying to not live with one foot always in “tomorrow” (a nasty habit of mine). Trying to be grateful for this breather, this pressure-free space. Feels so abnormal, but… I think I like it! Trying not to propel myself into the next thing, but rather see if the next thing comes along all on its own.

And it always does, doesn’t it? One of the few things you can count on is that, eventually, things happen.

Suddenly, with this view, my life becomes very small. The years that have lead me to where I am are very short (I’m only twenty-flippin-six, for crying out loud). The years I have to get to places I want to be are very long. There is time.

There is time.